Online project collaboration is oftentimes associated with unfriendly user interfaces, limited functionality, cumbersome tools, and system freezes/lag. For instance, known collaboration applications (e.g., circuit design applications and mechanical design applications) enable multiple users to view and edit the same project. However, these known software applications generally require that each user have a copy of the software application installed on their own device or workstation. The separate software applications enable each user to have access to a complete version (or at least a basic version) of the project toolset and an executable version of the project, which is oftentimes stored in a single location on a host user's workstation or on a centrally located server. During collaboration, user devices access the project located on the host workstation or at the central server. Limited bandwidth at the host may create lag during the collaboration, leading to increasingly frustrated users. In addition, some features of a toolset may be restricted from being used for online collaboration as a result of complexities related to propagating project changes (caused by the tool) to other devices. This is especially true for viewer versions of an online collaboration application that do not include complete toolsets.
Another issue with these known online collaboration applications is that collaboration is limited to only those devices that have a copy of the software application. This may be acceptable within enterprises and closed domain environments where all devices are under information technology (“IT”) management and can be updated with the latest version of the online collaboration application. However, this is not acceptable for devices outside the enterprise or closed domain that do not have the application installed. As workforces become more mobile and some workforces using more independent contractors, limiting online project collaboration to devices with the appropriate project software application is not feasible.
Some applications attempt to overcome these known problems by being configured to provide online collaboration for a single file or document type. For instance, many cloud-based online collaboration tools are provided only for a specific application, such as a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a presentation application, or a database application. While such applications are generally efficient, they limit collaboration to a single document or file, thereby limiting functionality to the capability of the document/file. These applications are generally not useful for online collaboration for more sophisticated uses, such as the creation of executable programs, workflows, or object-oriented programs.